Books by Arturo Longoria

Friday, August 31, 2012

For the Love of Mora...Mulberries

I assume some of the people
who read this blog think about the Swedish knife when somebody says, “Mora.”But in Spanish the word mora means mulberry.In fact,
the family name the various mulberries fall within is known as Moraceae.Selfbow makers are familiar with another
species in this family called Osage orange, Maclura
pomifera.Texas has two native
species of mulberry, Texas mulberry (Morus
microphylla) found in Central and West Texas into the Panhandle and hopscotching
within islands of vegetation as far west as Arizona.Red Mulberry (Morus rubra) extends from about Val Verde County in the
southwestern part of the state over towards Corpus Christi along the Gulf Coast
and north in a sweeping curve through the Dallas-Fort Worth area into Oklahoma
then Kansas and as far north as southern Michigan and Minnesota and throughout
the South and much of the Eastern Seaboard.I’ve got a link called U.S. Tree Species Range Maps that will take you
to the distribution maps of all the major hardwoods in The United States.Deep South Texas has an introduced species of
mulberry called, White Mulberry (Morus
alba) that came from Asia. Those of you who have never indulged in a
snack of mulberries have missed out.As
a kid we had a mulberry tree growing next to the driveway and I and the
mockingbirds kept the tree in a constant state of attack.The ripe blue-black mulberries were the
sweetest but now and then it was nice to indulge in the bitter red stage of berries
a few days before full ripening.My mom
was forever warning me about not overdoing the mulberries.Guess I wasn’t very obedient.But the way I figured it I was actually doing
everybody a favor.Mulberries falling
onto a paved driveway will make a mess staining not only the concrete but when
they stick to your shoes you’ll take the purplish dye into your house and stain
the floor.So you see I was actually a
hero and not some disobedient kid.I’ve
eaten mulberry pie, mulberry muffins and mulberry jam.Mulberries sprinkled on vanilla ice cream are
shamelessly bueno.

Mulberry wood has been
used for furniture, selfbows, knife handles, and other assorted wooden things
like railroad crossties, fence posts and even boats. The bark which can be pounded into a fiber was
used to make cloth by pre-Columbian cultures.
I saw a wooden flute made from a mulberry branch and it was gorgeous. Mulberry trees have been transplanted all
over the world and are easy to propagate.

My experience with
mulberry selfbows is limited. I’ve made
a few but only when I could find a branch that was projecting over a ranch road
and was straight enough to use. I’m not
keen on whacking down an entire tree so that I can make a bow. Somehow that seems a bit overboard. Besides, it’s not as if we haven’t destroyed
enough nature already.

Back in the days when
people mailed letters (what they call “hardcopies” now) I used a mulberry
handled letter opener that I made. I
keep it in a drawer and every once in a while look at it just to admire the
wood.

Mulberries can turn
into beautiful shade trees and if you’re a birder they’ll bring in birds by the
dozens come berry time. In the interim
they provide ample nesting and roosting sites.
Mulberry trees are available in the spring for planting. I’ve even seen them for sale at places like
Walmart. They’re relatively fast
growing. Plant a mulberry tree and you’ll
have wonderful shade and lots of birds to watch. Just don’t plant them too close to your
driveway or patio unless you’ve got a super-hero-kid around to (in consortium
with the birds) eat the harvest and spare the concrete.

I made this letter opener a few years ago using a piece of saw blade and a small branch of mulberry.